One of our members was lucky got access to the Battlefield 3 alpha after BF3blog was pretty much banned from the alpha (*cough* possibly related to leaking a bunch of stuff *cough*), and he spend the last few days playing the alpha, clocking in a dozen hours or so. He’s still bound by the NDA, so we won’t be showing any screenshots or videos, but here are the full impressions of the Battlefield 3 alpha so far:

Gameplay

Feels more like Battlefield 2 than Bad Company 2. The pace is a bit quicker than in BF2, but it appears it’s because of the map and the Rush mode.

You can now strafe run, which adds a lot more than it sounds.

You can see your legs/feet when looking down or jumping over things. It’s not as weird as it sounds.

No bunny hopping or dolphin diving.

3D spotting has been revised. It feels like you need to be more accurate when spotting enemies than in Bad Company 2.

Classes are a lot better and make more sense (Assault with med kit, Support gives out ammo).

Everything ran very smooth at high frame rates, it gave it a bit of a “Call of Duty” feeling at times.

The game appears to be ready for in-game advertising support (banners etc.). Although it could be just random BF3 banners posted.

Guns

Hit detection feels much better than in Bad Company 2.

Guns look, sound and feel differently from Bad Company 2. It’s more like BF2 than BC2.

Muzzle flash on guns has been reduced compared to BC2, now is on par with BF2.

Audio

Just as crisp and lifelike as in other Battlefield games. It sounds more realistic in BF3, kinda like “war tapes” in Bad Company 2.

There’s still automated chatter from soldiers around you, including enemies (which reveals their position, like in BC2).

Vehicles

There was only one vehicle, the LAV-25 APC. Controls felt like Bad Company 2, but the cannon firing and sounds were much more realistic, as if you’re in a real APC.

It felt like it took a few more rockets to completely destroy the LAV compared to Bad Company 2.

Graphics/destruction

The game looks great, no way around that.

Animations are way ahead of Bad Company 2 or any other FPS.

Destruction feels more limited than in BC2. There are buildings you can destroy, buildings you can’t. There are walls you can destroy, and walls you can’t. There’s no real way of telling which is which.

There is also a lot of cover that would have been destroyable in Bad Company 2, but isn’t in BF3. (UPDATE: according to some, destruction has been limited in the alpha for testing purposes, which would explain what we experienced).

The lighting is amazing, both in doors and outdoors. Also, you can only shoot out some of the interior lights, not all.

Misc

Award pins have been replaced by BF2-style ribbons.

There are a bunch of new guns, like the G36C, MP7, M27.

There are now faction specific weapons and rocket launchers.

When M-Com stations are armed, a C4 device appears on it. When disarmed, the C4 disappears.

100 points are given for a kill, +10 points for headshots, +30 for kill assist etc. You get 200 points for arming M-Com, another 200 for destroying it.

Overall:

The game feels a lot more like Battlefield 2 than Bad Company 2, contrary to what many people think. It was hard to comment on pace, since it’s Rush, limited to 32 players, with tight combat areas — so pacing will naturally be fast. On open, conquest maps with 64 players, I can imagine it feels a lot more like BF2. Also, note that these impressions are for an alpha version — it’s far from a finished product.

Any questions, feel free to ask in the comments and we’ll try and answer. Also, if you’ve played the alpha, feel free to participate and share your experience in the comments section.

they need to make things that are mostly balanced based and team and faction specific everything like how mag did, americans blue, russians red,
plr green or can do flag colors, by the way this is a good metaphor for cod

@Destruction feels more limited than in BC2. There are buildings you can destroy, buildings you can’t. There are walls you can destroy, and walls you can’t. There’s no real way of telling which is which.

Demize confirmed that the destruction was nerfed for testing purposed in the alpha

YES… oh god, i remember seeing in some video where the guy tried to blow up the other side of the “famous” destructible wall that they showed in the Frostbite 2 Trailer, and he couldn’t do shit, it was just a black mark on the wall. Thank god you can do more destruction! I can’t wait to see how this game will play with MORE destruction. And it will also be interesting to see this shit on my PC and Xbox!

I got core2 quad q8200 2,33ghz (will be overclocked to 3ghz safely), 2x2gb corsair dominator 1066hz, gigabyte gtx 560 ti oc and wondering if I’ll need upgrade. I wanna run it on maxed out 1920×1080 with things like vsync and vhob or whatever it was called in bc2 turned off (they added depth to objects but lowered fps frastically).

it’s only out for pc rite now with the alpha. I was a able to play a little bit and I can say that once my friend and I acquired the first bolt action rifle and I could make more long distance shots. bullet drop has returned. also, the customization for weapons has also been expanded and there r much more optics that u can put on guns. I could no use a bipod on the sniper. they said there would be one so I think that may come later as an unlock perk. but the bipod on the lmg’s rly cuts down on recoil and makes them much more acurate. the hit box is much better. especially when it comes to moving targets. the overall audio in the game is the beat I have ever heard from any fps or movie for that matter. and there r now multiply knifing sequences when knifing an enemy. it also entering a little cut scene per say. and it seems like it takes just as many obscene amounts of rockets to kill a vehicle as in bc2. but they have also added a feature where if the hit the vehicle just rite in the tracks. it becomes “disabled” where u can shot and operate the turret. but u can no longer drive or move it. u become a sitting duck. also there r more death animations and better ragdoll effects. animation is the best ive ever seen and being able to c ur body do every little move and jump over and put ur hand down cor every little thing is a real treat. but overall. even with them not showing full destruction yet and many features missing. the game looks great. much better than any bf or cod game ive ever seen. there seems to be a lot more bf moments when playing and u RLY become attached. overall. I can’t wait to c the full game and DICE has lived up the all the hype and every expectation given to them.

Alright everybody, just like you, I am a huge fan of Battlefield 3, and consoles. As most of you know as well, Battlefield 3 is coming out for consoles as well, well it’s great isn’t it? But here’s the catch. Only 24 players slots per server. Now think about it, only 12 teammates? That’s no fun. How about we have 32 players slot? Can you imagine how fun it will be better having 16 teammates? You will be able to do a lot more I’ll tell you that.
We, seeing battlefield 3 in the media now, are aware of how unspeakably awesome and groundbreaking it will be when it comes out, we entrust DICE completely in making the right decision. Just as they have decided that 128 players on PC was not fun, we hope they seriously decide to test for 32 players on a console and make an honest, thought-out decision based on that. Whether they decide finally to change it to 32 players or keep it at 24, us console players feel at ease knowing it was given a chance to be heard.

So let us get the most signatures as we can, and deliver it to EA.

-Our goal is set. 10k Signatures (For now) world wide, and hand it to EA.

Theres a reason they have 24 players on the consoles. So that we can have the same amount of destruction as the PC and be able to play the game better. If we had 32 players then they would have to take something out. I know the consoles haven’t been pushed to their limit yet, (and if you want to argue with me on that, just read this article: http://beefjack.com/news/xbox-360-to-get-ps3-style-mlaa-anti-aliasing-quality-bar-raised/) but the fact of the matter is that Microsoft and Sony have bandwidth limitations so that we get the best “Quality” experience, and I can understand that… so honestly making this petition is really just a waste of time. It’s awesome that you want to help console players like myself, but 1: theres really no way to change what DICE has already put into play, and 2: I really do not mind 24 players! I honestly think 24 players is a really good balanced gameplay experience! I’m level 50 on BC2, and I still play the shit out of it and LOVE 24 players. No matter what happens, just as long as the game is going to look better, feel better, sound better, and play better than BC2, and the maps bigger than BC2 *which it will* then I say, LET THERE BE 24 PLAYERS, AND THANK YOU DICE FOR LETTING US CONSOLE PLAYERS GET THE BEST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE!

Do you realise that if the maps are bigger then BC2 (which we know they will), 24 players wont be enough? I’m a console player too and I think, on a map like heavy metal in bc2, 24 players isnt enough. Anyhow, I doubt there is a way to go over 24 without reducing the game’s quality…

Bro, trust me. 24 is enough. 64 is, in my opinion, too much. It’s just alot of killing and not alot of tactics… Call of Duty-ish. I like to use team play and I really think 24 players really brings out the tactics in people. If you like to run and gun and just try to get as many kills as possible by all means go ahead. But I like 24 players. I really wouldn’t have it any other way. And they have already said that for the game quality to be at a maximum for console players, they HAVE to keep it at 24. It’s like filling your cup with water a little bit every year and then at the 6th year its almost full. You can’t just add more water and expect it to not overflow. You have to pour some out so you still have what the cup can handle. The PC is a Cup with interchangable parts to make it fit more water if you want. The Console is a Larger McDonalds cup. Sure it’s good, but you can’t get an Extra Large for the price of a large… I hope this analogy made sense because im pretty baked right now. LOVE YOU BATTLEFIELD!

Same here signed the petition. It would be nice if there was 32 players on console, but I really don’t mind. All I know is that BF3 WILL BE EPIC

00

God

July 26th, 2011 at 12:04 am

I agee 64 is a bit too much, but on huge maps 24 isnt enough. 32 is a deal for me… Id sacrifice a bit of the graphic quality to have that. It will still be the best looking game on console anyway…

00

Gary

July 29th, 2011 at 7:46 am

I’m curious, how do you think that 64 player servers would reduce tactics? If anything there will be more tactical options available to a 32 player team.

Granted many gamers do not grasp tactics too well. There are many like myself, however that do. 64 player servers are a lot of fun! There’s so much more chaos as there should be. It’s virtual war after all.

00

Elitemane

July 25th, 2011 at 6:06 am

totally agreed , 24 is enough ,Dice said they could pit 64 players against each other but it wouldn’t be fun and people arguing about who gets what vehicle and how to do what and then theres the fuckfeast(when players are just being outrageous with grenades mgs revives and so one((you know if you played bc2′s Vietnam)) then theres snipers. i prefer if they are the regular 16 minimal to 40 players max 4 squads to 20 squads per match, it would be the ultimate thrill. Although i would make players get out of their base and there would be no base camping or goofing around but you can come back for vechiles…………..
everybody seems to be writing a book here???

Never had a problem with 64 player servers my entire time i played bf2 and thats 2000+ hours, i upgraded at the time just to be able to and never regretted it nor went back to 24-32 players, it was great to see that small server mentality be broken and in the process see them do it so well.

It all comes down to how well the game is designed to handle 64 players, sure people some times wait around for vehicles as far as im concerned so long as these vehicles are fun to use there will alway be high demand for them. Notice the great different between bf2′s choppers and bfbc2s lol @ wanting to wait around up for these helis, only a handful of people want to do that in bfbc2.

24 players is fine for consoles not because it provides a better a better gaming environment ->people haven’t even played the 64 player game mode yet but because well current consoles are kind of old in the tooth, it will be a cold day in hell before you see a bf3 64 player console game do 60 fps at a decent resolution with destruction and everything else going on.

00

Landshrkk

July 28th, 2011 at 6:50 pm

Actually, EA hosts their own servers, not Microsoft. The bandwidth issue might be real, but in this case the limitation is not because of Microsoft’s/Xbox Live’s network. More realistically this is probably a limitation of the hardware of the console itself, but really I can’t speculate on that part.

Indeed, it is. I was going to point this out myself. I am hopeful now, that as seeing that DICE has done their homework in regards to this. Hopefully they will have done the same regarding sniper rifles as well. As in the M40A5 in place of the M24 SWS.

Dude, why the hell does everyone complain about the fucking regen!?!?
If you don’t want health regen, then go play Hardcore and snipe your ass off. Just shut up about the whole regen thing. It’s always been there and always will be… for Core that is.

How can you say its faster? Its actually way slower. You need to take cover for a moment untill the regeneration starts. Dude just play hardcore. I think there should be more then normal and hardcore though.

- Normal mode: No regen, there is a map, radar spotting, spawning on squad lead, etc…
- Arcade mode: Regen, there is a map, 3D spotting, spawning on all squad mates, etc…
- Hardcore mode: No regen, no map, no spotting, spawning on squad lead or not… etc…

Make the Normal one have regen and keep everything else the same. I like core. Core takes more skill, you have to be more accurate. If you have to be accurate, AND have no health regen, that would make the game unpleasant.

Normal-regen health to 66 percent like in kz3,and you can spot,and spawn on squad leader, also normal damage and normal health, vechiles are okay and spawn timer to 12 seconds.regular everything destruction.regular xp

Arcade-regen all health,can spot from far away, no recoil,all specs and gadgets all vechiles spawn when moved, no destruction.spawn on everyone get -2 xp for everyting

Hardcore-no hud no specs no weapon mods, no health regen no spotting
40 second spawn timer high destruction, high recoil no aim assist only spawn in base only, no vechiles, get 4X xp for everything
no crosshair no killcam.

Didn’t played it, but I always hate health-regeneration, how could this be? “Land vehicles will have health-regen”, I hope this is not more than %10, then engineers will only use their rockets, I <3 Repair Tool.
Then, player-health-regen is fast I think, I wish they put an option to servers, which server owner can decide there'll be health-regen or not, because 20 seconds = %30 health, I think you should only get %1 health by-five seconds after getting shot 10 seconds, however this is my idea…

The player health system seems a bit broken right now. While it does take a fairly long time before a player begins healing (I think like a reasonable 6 seconds without being suppressed or anything), the heal rate is pretty ridiculous, looking like the player gains 10-15% per second. This might be to offset the larger damage that weapons deal, but it seems a bit pointless when you consider that, in BC2, players healed 3% per second and medkits helped players heal at a base rate of 10%. There’s only so much a medkit can do now before it becomes completely game-breaking, so I think they ought to back down the heal rate.

Also it’s a bit odd that, when injured, the player loses any screen indication of their injury within about 3 seconds of the hit despite not having been fully healed or healed at all (you can tell by the health percentage bar). I think there should be at least some sort of visual effect (discoloration, perhaps) to assist in indicating damage state as opposed to just a little bar and a percentage.

im glad they’ve actually been thinking about it, i hope they give ppl a reason for their final choice

00

Other Brian

July 25th, 2011 at 5:39 am

My favorite part about that tweet is that he’s basically saying “everyone shut the fuck up, we know what we’re doing.”

I’m not even being sarcastic, it’s just awesome.

00

Cowwie

July 25th, 2011 at 5:43 am

Good to see they are still considering it, any real ‘bf2er’ knows that was a great addition to the game.

If voips broken as usual(whats the bet it will be) it would be even better to see that addition in the game, bfbc2 is somewhat souless compared to bf2 when it comes to communicating with other players.

00

Elitemane

July 25th, 2011 at 6:27 am

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!oh well in bc2 they made you use the select button and point at something

no need to trash cod 24/7, you sound like my 12 year old cousin. learn to appreciate the good stuff from cod + bf and shut up already.

plus, FMJ rounds has nothing to do with cod. it exists in real life in case your hardcore, childish grudge against cod got in the way and you never learned anything about firearms. he asked a perfectly sensible question and you gave him a childish answer.

why blow up a wall if a bullet has sufficient penetration capability? that’s impractical, not tactic00l.

Health Regen is like a 20-30 second process. If you’re working together with your team and pass out medkits, you won’t have to wait those 20-30 seconds for your health to get back up. Medkits are very useful during firefights. Every second counts.

Watch that video from 2:20 – 3:00. You see him take a hit and he goes to 51% at 2:25. Then it quickly goes up from 51% to 57% (he probably walked by a medkit on the ground). Keep watching and you’ll notice that his health remains at 57% until the 2:50 mark where it regens his health to 100% by 2:55.

But not like a real period I hope… yeah, women say having their period is a beautiful thing, but not when your their boyfriend taking those panties off and seeing a big red stain right there winking its red eye at you… its pretty disgusting………..

Just the Xbox and PC. Im mostly going to play it for the Xbox though. Not because my computer sucks, it’s just that all my freinds play xbox. PC is for more of the, no offence, nerdier kids who really want the best out of their games, and I can understand that. But I like the simplicity of the controller in my hands and being able to kick back and relax and play with my freinds instead of being a hunchback sitting over my keyboard looking like that guy from the WoW episode of south park…

But I have more fun on the Xbox. BF2 was fun when it was out for the computer and all, but I hated always typing in an IP address just to get into a voip thingy or xfire or what the hell people use now… I like just being able to, at the click of a button, join a party with up to 8 people on my freinds list. Im tired of the servers, I like matchmaking where it put me up with random people, so i’m not joining the same games with the same people over and over again. But just to sum things up;

Xbox = Fun, Competitive, and Simple.

PS3 = Fun, and Simple. (If you played BC2 on the PS3, you’ll know why I didn’t say Competitive… because they all ususaly suck. But I digress.)

PC = Quality, Competitive. (and Sometimes Fun… It depends on who you play with. If you have freinds on the PC then it’s a little fun. But if you are just playing by yourself, and joining a server, then it’s just for the points.)

And plus I don’t really have the time for spending my money trying to update my computer every 1 or 2 years just to play the newest game at the quality it was meant to be played at. I spend much less money on my xbox.

I think you can get 3 customizations on your gun because if you go to UsamaFTWs youtube channel and click MP7 gameplay and near the end he customizes his AKS-74u and it show 3 attachment slots called: Optic,primary accesorary,and secondary accsessorary sorry for bad english not from america

That standing to prone time and vice versa looks a bit too quick. Is drop shooting now possible?

Also, I seriously COULD NOT thing of any reason as to why they WOULDN’T put in commo rose other than that it’ll end up making the game too complicated for certain people. Same goes for a lack of commander mode.